MacNichol Conservation Easement

In December 2006, the Nature Trust officially received one of the largest ecological gifts of its kind in Canada. The MacNichol family of Perrysburg, Ohio, chose to protect their 2,313 acre (930 hectare) property of ecologically significant land along the St. Croix River, a Canadian Heritage River, which forms the border between New Brunswick and Maine. The protected area includes 1.5 lakes and 3.6 kilometres of St. Croix River frontage. King Brook, a meandering stream that winds through peatland for several kilometers before entering the St. Croix, is also preserved in the arrangement.Mrs. Carol Orser, who inherited the land from her father, George P. MacNichol, said that her family has used, loved, and cared for the land for five generations and thought that establishing a conservation easement on the land would be a fitting way of protecting the river and the land alongside it.The property hosts 338 vascular plant species and 118 bryophytes, as well as a number of significant and diverse habitats representing the unique floral assemblage of Charlotte County. A survey of the property in 2000 found 11 provincially rare plants and 4 rare bryophytes, while the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre reports 28 rare plants, 4 rare bryophytes, 3 rare insects, and 1 rare fish in the vicinity. Significant habitats include a flood-plain zone along the St. Croix River, King Brook Lake and its surrounding peatland/swamp, and two tolerant hardwood stands.The project is almost the last piece of a puzzle which has seen government and private land trust initiatives on both sides of the St. Croix River protect nearly 275 km of river frontage.Future generations of New Brunswickers and those from both sides of the border, will benefit from the knowledge that this pristine landscape will remain the way it is, in perpetuity.The St. Croix International Waterway Commission, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Wildlife Habitat Canada and Ducks Unlimited are thanked for their assistance with the easement.